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For McLaren the deal has been on the cards ever since Mercedes announced its return as a factory team at the end of 2009. Without a works engine deal, McLaren faced the same fate as Williams in the mid-2000s when it lost BMW power and had to start accepting second best. Under the current frozen engine regulations it was not a major issue to be powered by Mercedes, but from 2014 onwards having an engine company working directly with the team will be a huge advantage.
To continue to compete with Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull (the latter has a "premium" supply deal with Renault), McLaren needed its own engine supplier, and in Honda it has one of the best in the business. It's true the last Honda F1 engine was unloved, but the new regulations offer a blank sheet of paper and far more flexibility for the Japanese company to showcase its engineering prowess. The deal also rekindles fond memories for almost every F1 fan of the Marlboro McLaren Hondas of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The last time Honda supplied McLaren with a turbocharged V6 engine, it won all but one race during the 1988 season. The pedigree is there.
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